Back in December, our first attempt to get SPEARS aloft went swimmingly well until the payload unfortunately came down in the English Channel, at which point things went decidedly unswimmingly not only for SPEARS but for our heroic Playmonaut, who was tragically lost at sea.

Despite this setback, we've regrouped and prepared a second SPEARS board which on Saturday will soar heavenwards from Blighty's answer to Baikonur, Brightwalton in Berkshire, under the watchful eye of (from L-R): Anthony Stirk, Dave Akerman and Neil Barnes:

Rob is Head Firer for Flashpoint Fireworks, and coincidentally has a display on Saturday evening close to our launch, so he's going to pop down to join the fun and games.

For the flight, we'll be packing the SPEARS board, a back-up tracker, the Clockwork High Altitude Release Mechanism (CHARM) and Dave Akerman's Raspberry Pi camera rig.

So, expect live photos beamed back from aloft, as well as the usual near-real-time flight data from the onboard radio transmitters. What's more, the launch will be broadcast live over the interwebs, allowing LOHAN fans to follow the action from the comfort of their PCs.

We'll give you the all the details on Friday, including frequencies, callsigns and just where to catch the live vid feed.

In the meantime, we'll leave you with a bit of artwork which will adorn the payload box, in homage to those who've sacrificed all for the British space programme: